Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce The Big Apple, a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.

’Personnel is policy” is a saying used to describe the personnel that a new executive puts in place. The saying became popular in 1981, after Ronald Reagan’s presidential victory and during his first year in office. Reagan’s conservative supporters wanted to rid the government of personnel from the Jimmy Carter administration, but they also didn’t want personnel from the moderate Republican administration of Gerald Ford. However, Reagan’s conservative supporters—long out of power in Washington—didn’t have the government experience needed to fill positions.

“Personnel is policy” has been cited in print since at least November 1981. Personnel Is Policy: Why the New President Must Take Control of the Executive Branch (2001) was written by Robert E Moffit of the Heritage Foundation.

1 February 1982, Seattle (WA) Times, “Reagan aide has to run hard to stay in place” by Paul West (Dallas Times Herald), pg. A3, col. 4:
“Personnel is policy,” says Richard Viguerie, Conservative Digest publisher and a Baker critic. “The White House is always looking for people who have experience in government and Reagan people don’t have (previous) White House experience.”

19 February 1982, The Register (Santa Ana, CA), “Right-wingers complain moderates captured Reagan” by Saul Friedman (Knight-Ridder Newspapers), pg. C2, col. 1:
“Personnel is policy because you can’t have Reaganism without Reaganites,” said Richard Viguerie, a conservative publisher and mail-order fund-raiser for right-wing causes. “Unless the personnel changes, we’e going to have policy different from that Ronald Reagan promised us.”

28 February 1982, Boston (MA) Globe, “Right wing rumbles at Reagan” by Curtis Wilkie, pg. 1:
Asked the other day if he was more concerned with personnel than policy, Lofton (John D. Lofton Jr.—ed.) said, “We believe personnel is policy.”

New York (NY) TimesChange Is Landing in Old Hands
By JOHN HARWOOD
Published: November 22, 2008
(...)
That breezy formulation disregards the received wisdom of Pennsylvania Avenue. For years, Washington insiders have used the phrase “personnel is policy” for the assumption that the prior loyalties and political tastes of a president’s cabinet and White House staff heavily influence what those appointees are eager, or able, to get done.